One of the biggest gripes current and would-be iPhone owners have is the quality of AT&T’s network. I think that many of these complaints are overhyped. None of the (many) iPhones owners I know have any complaints with AT&T’s cell reception. Also, the assumption that Verizon’s network will provide for a “better” iPhone experience because of their network is a big question mark that remains to be proven.

This bit on TechCrunch sums up my feelings about the iPhone on Verizon’s network:

According to AppleInsider, Verizon sold an estimated 4.4 million Droids. Verizon has 92 million subscribers while AT&T has 90 million. So 11 million AT&T subscribers are slamming the network while 4 million Droid-ites are tapping Verizon’s network gently. So what happens, then, when the iPhone effect hits Verizon, especially on Verizon’s older, slower CDMA network? Verizon will experience the exact issue that has been plaguing AT&T: the curse of success.

A second carrier is great for Apple but a lot still remains to be seen. Anybody ready to jump the AT&T ship for a Verizon iPhone?

Microsoft—in a nutshell—is a company that had one successful product that we are all beholden to—that then used that capital to buy other people’s products and ruin them. They are not bad people, but they do stab their friends in the back. Also, they are a bunch of nerds, which is probably why they have never managed to produce a decent interface.

Google—in a nutshell—is a company that had one successful product that we are all beholden to—that then used that capital to buy other people’s products and ruin them. They are not bad people, but they do stab their friends in the back. Also, they are a bunch of nerds, which is probably why they have never managed to produce a decent interface.

Apple is a company that produces amazing, human-usable products. I love them for the same reason I love any such company, and I forgive them their eccentricities because their products are so amazing. They make decisions that I’m told are bad for me, yet I don’t see that reflected in their products as I use them.

-via motherfucker

1. My BlackBerry won’t mount on my Mac as a Mass Storage Device
Mass Storage Mode allows your phone to mount as any USB hard drive or flash drive would thus allowing you to copy files back and forth between the phone and your computer. Firstly, the phone needs to have Mass Storage Mode enabled. This is done by going into the phone’s options menu and then selecting “Memory.”

• Media Card Support: On
• Encryption Mode: None
• Media Transfer Protocol (MTP): On
• Mass Storage Support: On
• Auto Enable Mass Storage Mode When Connected: Yes or Prompt

If you have these settings and your phone still won’t mount, the likely cause is a carrier unlock. Unlocking your phone disables Mass Storage Mode. To remedy the problem, iCrack has a patch to re-enable it. However, the patch runs on Windows only and doesn’t work in all circumstances. To manually enable Mass Storage Mode, you need to enter what’s called the Engineering Screens. Follow the directions from BerryReview to access the escreens:

To access the escreen, access the device “Help Me!” screen. For QWERTY devices, perform the key combination Alt+Shift+H on the home screen. For SureType devices, type Alt+EACE on the home screen. For SurePress devices, hold the Escape button, and tap the screen upper left, upper right, upper left, and upper right corners in that sequence.

The “Help Me!” screen contains the application version, PIN, and current up time. Without leaving the “Help Me!” screen, enter that information into the generator. The generator will give you the 8 digit code for the current “Help Me!” screen. If you close the “Help Me!” screen, the device uptime will no longer match the uptime used to generate the code.

Type the 8 digit code into the “Help Me!” screen. You will not see the digits as you type them, but once all 8 correct digits are entered, the escreen will activate. Make sure to use Alt for the numbers on QWERTY devices. Make sure to use multitap to enter the digits on SureType devices.

Once activated, the escreen will replace the “Help Me!” screen for the duration specified when generating the code. You can close the escreen earlier by setting your device clock ahead past the expiration time, reactivating the “Help Me!” screen, then setting your device clock back to normal. Note: Devices with a vendor ID of 1 (RIM engineering sample devices) will always have the escreen open.

Obtain the 8-digit code with this generator.

Once you’re at the escreen, click “OS Engineering Screens” and then “USB.” Select the seting for “Mass Storage (MS)” and click the BlackBerry button and choose “Toggle MS.” Now your BlackBerry should connect to your computer with no problem.

2. My BlackBerry experiences random sync errors telling me to “Retry Sync”
I really don’t have a good explanation for this one. Sometimes syncing contacts (or anything else) with BlackBerry Desktop Manager for Mac works, and other times, the sync fails telling me to retry. When you are receive an error message, hold down the option key and click on the sync services icon in the menubar and select Reset Sync Services. If you don’t have this menubar icon, go to System Preferences>MobileMe>Sync>Show Status in Menubar. Doing so will probably prompt you to reconcile some sync conflicts but hopefully you’ll only have to do this once.

I hope this helps any other BlackBerry and Mac user who’s experienced the same problems.

Email and instant messaging were invented over 30 years ago when computers and networking technology were in their infancy. Email and IM both mirrored traditional communication channels: snail mail and face-to-face conversations. In many circumstances, this paradigm breaks down. Google Wave assumes today’s technologies (Wikis, cloud data, stronger search algorithms etc.) as the basis for a communication platform.

It is important to note that Google Wave is not designed to be just another Google product but rather it is an entirely new protocol. Anyone could setup their own wave server if they choose to. On that note, it is also important to note that the wave protocol is still under development and is a long way from becoming an email replacement (if it ever does).

The main screen

After signing into Google Wave, you are greeted by three-column interface similar to Microsoft Outlook 2003/2007. Anyone who’s used an email client shouldn’t have too much difficultly figuring this out. I’d say the UI is a bit more intuitive than Gmail’s. The real conceptual difference people need to get used to is the idea that conversations are hosted in one location. Gone are the days of sending emails out to multiple people which usually ends up in a mess of reply chains. Once a wave is started, people can be added as participants who can make changes to any part of the ongoing discussion. In a way, this style of communicating is reminiscent of a discussion forum, however it is much richer thanks to “gadgets.” Gadgets are mini-applications for polls or maps you can put right in the conversation. Ultimately, wave works much better than email for groups of people. The fewer participants a wave has however, the less obvious wave’s benefits are. Also, the built-in chat function behaves in the same way a full wave does. It’s not enough like chat nor is it differentiated enough from a regular wave to really make much sense.

At this point, wave is really just a toy. Many of the features (such as contact management) are still very basic. Also, if wave wants to stand any chance of being adopted, it needs to have some backward compatibility with email.

Aditional Reading:
Google Wave and the Dawn of Passive Aggressive Communication
WSJ: The end of the Email Era

Stalker screenshot

Being locked down by a ball and chain (Verizon contract), my options for innovative cell phones looked as broad as toothpick splinter. Being on a family plan, simply opting to pay the Early Termination Fee to switch carriers posed more trouble and complications that it was worth. Desperately wanting a smartphone, I had only two choices; Blackberry (which I affectionally dubbed Suckberry), or Windows Mobile. I chose Suckberry despite my general dislike for it and due to the stagnant nature of WinMo development.

Not wanting to extend my contract with Verizon, I bought a Blackberry Storm off one of my teammates knowing this was one of the most hated Blackberry models RIM produced.  For the sake of not turning this post into a review of the Storm, I will summarize my experience so far.

• The phone is usable, I have no qualms about the touch screen, and it is actually better than most of Verizon’s other touch screen phones.  Overall, the build quality of RIM’s products is very good.
• The Blackberry OS leaves much to be desired.  It’s a one trick pony: messaging.  Especially Blackberry Messenger; it’s a very compelling app but not enough to keep me on a BlackBerry.
• Ultimately, having a smartphone I don’t really like is still better than my old Samsung Alias.

Now that Apple’s exclusivity agreement with AT&T is near it’s end, Verizon has announced at least two Google Android phones as well as the Palm Pre coming to it’s network, the smartphone/network landscape is about to get a lot more interesting.  The availability of 4G networks within the next year will also be something to consider.

Hopefully, the race to land deals with phone makers and pressure from the FCC will make for a consumer-friendly smartphone market.  Call me a hypocrite with my BlackBerry, but my Storm has allowed me to figure out what I want from whatever smartphone I choose in the future.

Additional Reading:
Why You Can’t Get a Good Phone With Verizon

MacBook Pro (Mid 2008):

• 2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Processor/2GB DDR2 RAM at 667 MHz
• 160 GB hard drive @ 7200 rpm
• 256 MB nVidia GeForce 8600M GT
• 15.4″ matte LED-lit display
• Illuminated Keyboard
• 2 USB/1 Firewire 400/1 Firewire 800

Unibody MacBook:

• 2.0 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo Processor/2 GB DDR3 RAM @ 1066 MHz
• 160GB hard drive @ 5400 rpm
• nVidia GeForce 9400M chipset
• 13.3 LED-lit glossy display
• Glass multi-touch trackpad
• 2 USB ports

Ultimately, the performance is nearly identical. In real-world usage, the MacBook boots faster than the MacBook Pro, but I attribute this to the fact that there is significantly less occupying its hard drive. It’s hard to give up the MBP. While the unibody construction is sleek and very durable, the sentiental connection I have with my MBP is hard to get over.

The old MBP does have a few extra perks as well such as an ExpressCard slot. For most average users, this is hardly a point of significance. I can’t remember the last time I used any card-slot peripherals.

For those of you with older MBP’s considering a new laptop, I generally agree with what’s been said at Wired, and here. The conclusion seems to be that if you actually use more advanced features (card slot, firewire, do heavy film editing), stick with the pro. Otherwise, the new Unibody MacBook has closed the gap between pro and consumer models in a good way; save yourself some dough and go for the regular MacBook.

All in all, the construction of the new MacBook makes it seem much sturdier and lighter (although the weight difference is negligible in once it is placed in my backpack). The smaller footprint has led me to use the MacBook as my primary mobile computer, while my Pro sits at home.

For most users, the new MacBook is a significant upgrade over the previous models. While the old model is still available with specs that nearly match the unibody models (the difference being in the bus and RAM speed) at a price break, the unibody is still the way to go. Unless you’re on a really really tight budget, the durability, improved battery life, LED screen and option for an illuminated keyboard are all features that make the unibody models look, feel and perform like the MacBook Pro.

A few things I had to get used to were the glossy screen and the button-less track pad. My MacBook pro has a matte screen, and like many users, I worried about glare. In my usage, I have yet to find a situation where the glare made my hindered my experience. The LED screen is bright enough to minimize most effects of the gloss. The trackpad lacks a button and as a result, I initially found myself doing all sorts of weird things when I tried to click with a second finger placed where I’m used to having a button. This behavior changed quickly and I soon found myself trying to click the trackpad on other machines. Multi-touch is definitely nice and improves upon an already stellar user experience in Mac OS.

All-in-all, the unibody MacBooks are excellent machines and put my old MacBook Pro to shame; a feat only Apple could pull off.

read more | digg story

The iPhone isn’t the only contender to be my most desired smartphone. While the Google G1 and the Android platform looked promising, it’s first iteration didn’t really live up to it’s full potential or hype in my opinion. The second generation Android phone doesn’t change much. With my general dislike of BlackBerry or Windows Mobile based devices, I was thrilled with what the Palm Pre has to offer. Reading about it really doesn’t do it justice; you need to watch the demo of the new WebOS to really get a sense of why it’s so cool and how Palm has positioned itself to be the most legitimate iPhone competitor.

This brings me back to my original point. The Pre is being released exclusively on Sprint. Sprint (like Verizon) uses CDMA technology, one of the main reasons for my general Verizon-bashing. Why is CDMA so bad, you ask? Gizmodo summed it up, saying:

Sprint and Verizon’s Secret Shame: CDMA

To the end user, CDMA and GSM don’t seem very different—Sprint, a CDMA carrier, offers the same services as AT&T, a GSM carrier—except when it comes to how they handle phones.

GSM phones are identified by the SIM card that they carry, which can be moved between phones at the user’s will. Not so with America’s other wireless standard. Effectively, a CDMA phone is like a GSM phone with the SIM card welded to its socket. Your CDMA phone is permanently locked to your carrier, and your mobile connection is permanently bound to your handset—unless your carrier is kind enough to authorize a transfer to another phone.

The presumably intentional effect is that there’s no market for 3rd party hardware in CDMA, which is fine for carriers, shitty for customers. Worst of all, there’s no good reason for this. CDMA SIM cards exist. They’re called R-UIM cards, but US carriers are in no rush to implement them.

Furthermore, CDMA severely limits my options for using my phone abroad. I realize that the cell phone companies would rather me use my plan and rack up ridiculous international charges instead of simply replacing my SIM card with one from a local provider but Verizon’s poor selection of phones (each with the same terrible UI) and their general Mac-unfriendliness don’t help their case either.

Ultimately, do any of these networks really offer such better service than the other that compels me to use one over the other. I’ve heard all the arguments for Verizon’s network being “better.” I’m much more skeptical of these claims. Even in upstate New York, I never had a problem with AT&T really. I think Verizon’s reputation of network availability is somewhat exaggerated and doesn’t come near to outweighing better pricing schemes, the flexibility of GSM, or my satisfaction with a phone I actually like. I think will only continue to see increasing parity in terms of quality of cell coverage from the major players (AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon).

What are your expierences with any of the phones or networks? Is the coolness of the Pre worth going with Sprint’s CDMA? Anyways, I have six months to wait and see.